I was sitting in my tree stand bow hunting in West Virginia one beautiful autumn morning staring at a tree limb just out of reach. The limb was blocking me from a clear shot where I suspected deer would approach from. I first tried reaching an arrow out to pull the limb in to me. I next tried throwing my hoist rope over the limb to snare it and pull it to me to be broken off. Unable to remove the limb, I thought there has to be a better way. That is when the beginning concepts of this invention were formed and the ideas kept coming that would allow this handy little unit to not only accomplish the above mentioned task, but many others as well, including the retrieval of dropped or left below items when in an elevated perch, a handy dry storage compartment, a very convenient way of storing a hunters hoist rope and deploying it tangle-free every time, a place to hang a gun, bow, or any other items related to hunting just in reach but out of your way.
The sport I love, known as hunting, is full of elements beyond the hunters control—weather, wind direction, and game location just to name a few. Anyone who has spent much time hunting deer knows that the more variables that can be eliminated the greater the chance of success. To help tip the odds a bit, we hunters went to the trees in the form of objects with a platform and seat fastened in an elevated position, generally 15 to 25 feet above the ground. Today many companies manufacture these tree stands in various shapes, sizes, and styles. Most deer hunters own more than one. The use of these tree stands by hunters has opened up a whole world of needs specific to tree-stand hunting.
Hunters routinely spend 3 to 5 hours at a time, and some even 12 or 13 hours, perched on the side of a tree in a tree stand. When someone puts this much effort and time into something, the last thing they want is for the opportunity to get a shot at your quarry to be ruined by something you have control over such as a pesky tree limb just in front of you blocking a clear shot, or a coat left or dropped at the base of the tree easily spotted or smelled by the deer. This is where the present idea comes in. That limb that prevented a clear shot can now be easily removed. That coat that you kept staring at as you shivered from the cold and then the deer spotted and took off before you could get a shot can be retrieved without leaving your perch. Dropped or left behind items can be retrieved with this unit by means of rotatable grappling hooks and a series of magnets embedded into the main body of unit. These grappling hooks can also be used to hang objects commonly used by hunters while on stand. Tree-stand hunters always need a place to hang grunt calls, range finders, coats, etc. This unit allows them to hang items out of the way but in reach. The attached rope doubles as the hunter's hoist rope used for pulling attached items into the elevated position, and it stores the rope neatly wound onto the shaft of unit ready to be sprung into action free from tangles. A handy storage compartment is located conveniently inside the main body of the tool.
Prior art has addressed the need for item retrieval from an elevated position the most similar to mine being U.S. Pat. No. 6,986,537 invented by Chad Robbins and Joey R. Cox. My invention is superior to theirs in several ways, better performing the task of retrieval as well as adding many other hunter friendly uses conveniently packaged in one small unit. The advantages will make themselves evident in later reading.